Apparatus and method for sharing information through presence service in a communication network

ABSTRACT

An apparatus is capable of sharing information through a presence service in a communication network and capable of providing presence information of a Mobile Station (MS). The apparatus extracts at least one of application information and contents indication information from an application in execution. Presence information is generated that includes at least one of the application information and the contents indication information, and transmitting the presence information to a presence server.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) AND CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/830,312, filed on Aug. 19, 2015 in the U.S.Patent and Trademark Office, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/675,003, filed on Mar. 31, 2015 and issued asU.S. Pat. No. 9,137,363 on Sep. 15, 2015, which is a continuationapplication of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/552,299, filed onNov. 24, 2014, which is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/657,074, filed on Jan. 13, 2010 and issued asU.S. Pat. No. 8,897,214 on Nov. 25, 2014, which claims priority under 25U.S.C. §119(a) from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2009-0002516, filedon Jan. 13, 2009 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, thecontents of which are herein incorporated by reference in theirentireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a presence service. More particularly,the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for sharinginformation through a presence service in a communication network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A recent research for the unification of communication technologies hasbeen actively made. An Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)is one of the unifications of the communication technologies. IMS is atechnology for complexly providing multimedia such as a voice, an audio,a video, large capacity data, etc. through an IP. Based on IMS, servicessuch as a presence service, a Push to talk on Cellular (PoC) service, aVoice over IP (VoIP) service, a video/image sharing service, etc. can beprovided.

Among the listed IMS-based services, the presence service is a servicedesigned to provide status information between user Mobile Stations(MSs). Up to now, the presence service is under active development, butit is general that the presence service provides status informationinput by a user. That is, the user MSs deliver their own presenceinformation to a separate presence server. If there is a request for apresence service from a different MS, the presence server providespresence information of a target MS to the different MS.

As described above, a user can acquire status information on other userMSs through his/her own MS by using the presence service. However, theinformation acquired through the presence service is limited toinformation that is input by a called party. Further, the presenceservice simply provides only status information on a called party, anddoes not consider providing a seamless service based on the statusinformation on the called party. Thus, there is a need to propose analternative for acquiring more detailed status information on a calledparty's MS and more conveniently sharing information using the statusinformation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

To address the above-discussed deficiencies of the prior art, it is aprimary aspect of the present invention to provide an apparatus andmethod for providing detailed status information through a presenceservice in a communication network.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus andmethod for sharing information depending on acquired status informationthrough a presence service in a communication network.

A further aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatus andmethod for automatically updating status information to be providedthrough a presence service in a communication network.

A yet another aspect of the present invention is to provide an apparatusand method for sharing identified contents through a presence service ina communication network.

The above aspects are achieved by providing an apparatus and method forsharing information through a presence service in a communicationnetwork.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for providingpresence information of a Mobile Station (MS) in a communication networkproviding a presence service is provided. The method includes extractingat least one of application information and contents indicationinformation from an application in execution, preparing presenceinformation including at least one of the application information andthe contents indication information, and transmitting the presenceinformation to a presence server.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method foracquiring presence information of an MS in a communication networkproviding a presence service is provided. The method includes receivingpresence information of a source MS from a presence server, anddisplaying the presence information including application informationand contents indication information.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, an MS apparatusin a communication network providing a presence service is provided. Theapparatus includes a controller for extracting at least one ofapplication information and contents indication information from anapplication in execution, and preparing presence information includingat least one of the application information and the contents indicationinformation, and a communication unit for transmitting the presenceinformation to a presence server.

According to a yet another aspect of the present invention, an MSapparatus in a communication network providing a presence service isprovided. The apparatus includes a communication unit for receivingpresence information of a source MS from a presence server, and adisplay unit, for displaying the presence information includingapplication information and contents indication information.

Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION below, itmay be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words andphrases used throughout this patent document: the terms “include” and“comprise,” as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion withoutlimitation; the term “or,” is inclusive, meaning and/or; the phrases“associated with” and “associated therewith,” as well as derivativesthereof, may mean to include, be included within, interconnect with,contain, be contained within, connect to or with, couple to or with, becommunicable with, cooperate with, interleave, juxtapose, be proximateto, be hound to or with, have, have a property of, or the like; and theterm “controller” means any device, system or part thereof that controlsat least one operation, such a device may be implemented in hardware,firmware or software, or some combination of at least two of the same.It should be noted that the functionality associated with any particularcontroller may be centralized or distributed, whether locally orremotely. Definitions for certain words and phrases are providedthroughout this patent document, those of ordinary skill in the artshould understand that in many, if not most instances, such definitionsapply to prior, as well as future uses of such defined words andphrases.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure and itsadvantages, reference is now made to the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like referencenumerals represent like parts:

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayingpresence information of a Mobile Station (MS) in a communication networkaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a signal dependent on apresence service of an MS in a communication network according to anexemplary embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a construction of an MS in acommunication network according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a procedure of providing presenceinformation of an MS and contents in a communication network accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a procedure of acquiring presenceinformation of an MS and contents in a communication network accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIGS. 1 through 5, discussed below, and the various embodiments used todescribe the principles of the present disclosure in this patentdocument are by way of illustration only and should not be construed inany way to limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the artwill understand that the principles of the present disclosure may beimplemented in any suitably arranged communication network.

A technology for acquiring detailed status information on a calledparty's Mobile Station (MS) and more conveniently sharing informationusing the status information through a presence service in acommunication network according to an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention is described below. Here, the MS represents acommunication MS accessible to an Internet Protocol (IP) network. Forexample, the MS means the inclusion of all of a cellular phone, aPersonal Communication System (PCS), a Personal Data Assistant (PDA), anInternational Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)—2000 terminal, a laptopcomputer, a desktop computer, etc.

A presence serving to the present invention has the following features.

In a presence service according to the present invention, presenceinformation is automatically updated depending on a function that iscurrently executed in an MS. For example, in case that a function suchas video/audio reproduction, Web surfing through a Web browser,picture/motion capturing through a camera, image viewing, a memo, adiary, etc, is executed by a user, presence information indicating thefunction in execution is generated. Additionally, information indicatingcontents used by the function in execution can be included as well. Forexample, the information indicating the contents used by the function inexecution can be a video file in case of video reproduction and a Website address in case of Web surfing. Namely, an MS recognizes anapplication executed by user, extracts both a name of a functioncorresponding to the application and the information indicating thecontents used by the function in execution, and sets the extractedinformation as a value of a ‘note’ field or new field of presenceinformation. At this time, the information indicating the contents usedby the application in execution is different depending on acharacteristic of the application. In some cases, there can be alsopresence information representing just only execution or non-executionof the application without the information indicating the contents usedby the application in execution. For example, extracted informationdependent on each application and an example of presence information areshown as in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 Application Extracted info. Example of presence info. Webbrowser visit Web site URL Visiting site ‘URL’ Media player Video filename, audio tag Listening to music ‘song title’ of ‘singer name’ CameraCapturing activation or Capturing motion deactivation Image viewer Imagefile name Watching picture ‘file name’ Others Application name, dataTaking memo Identifying schedule

Accordingly, upon receiving the presence information, an MS displays thepresence information, which is generated depending on the extractedinformation, i.e., the information indicating the contents used by theapplication in execution, on a screen. For example, a screen displayingpresence information of an MS that is in course of reproducing an audiofile is illustrated in FIG. 1.

Also, a presence service according to the present invention provides afunction of sharing contents used by an application being in executionin a source MS displayed through the presence service. Namely, uponreceiving presence information, a watcher MS sends a request for sharingof contents indicated in the presence information, to the source MS. Inother words, if contents desired to be shared are selected by a user,the watcher MS determines which contents are selected by a user andwhich application corresponds, and sends a request for informationenabling contents sharing to the source MS. At this time, theinformation enabling the contents sharing is different depending on acharacteristic of an application. For example, the information enablingthe contents sharing can be contents themselves or path information foracquiring the contents. Also, a scheme of adding a separate tag topresence information or a scheme of searching a keyword in presenceinformation can be used to acquire application information correspondingto the presence information. In the tag adding scheme, an MS identifiesa corresponding application through a tag included in presenceinformation. In the keyword searching scheme, the MS identifies acorresponding application by searching a keyword within presenceinformation. For example, an example of a definition of a keyworddependent on art application is shown as in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 Presence info. Keyword Application Info. to be requestedVisiting site ‘URL’ Site Web browser Current scroll posi- tion Listeningto music Music Media player Media file, ‘song title’ of VOD path ofmedia ‘singer name’ file Capturing motion Motion Camera Preview datacapturing Watching picture ‘file Picture Image viewer Image file, imagename’ path Taking memo — others Data native to appli- Identifyingschedule cation (text, schedule document)

For description convenience, the present invention denotes the‘information indicating the contents used by the function in execution’as ‘contents indication information’, and denotes the ‘informationenabling the contents sharing’ as ‘contents sharing information’.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flow of a signal dependent on a presence service ofan MS in a communication network according to an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 2 illustrates a signal flow when a source MS210 provides presence information and a watcher MS 220 acquires thepresence information of the source MS 210.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the source MS 210, in step 201, information onan application in execution and contents indication information areextracted, and the extracted information are generated as presenceinformation by an automatic presence status generator. For example, theextracted contents indication information is a Uniform Resource Locator(URL) of a site if it is in course of Web surfing, and is a media fileor streaming address if it is in course of using a media player, and isa preview or picture if it is in course of using a camera or viewing apicture.

In step 203, the presence information generated by the automaticpresence status generator is delivered to a presence service module. Instep 205, the presence information is transmitted to a presence server200 by the presence service module. And, in step 207, in response torequest of the watcher MS 220, the presence information stored in thepresence server 200 is transmitted to the watcher MS 220.

In the watcher MS 220 receiving the presence information through apresence service module, in step 209, the presence information isdelivered to a request data extractor. Also, in step 211, a user's inputresponsive to a data share request identified through an input unit isdelivered to the request data extractor. Then, in step 215, the requestdata extractor identifies contents indicated in the presence informationby analyzing the presence information, and gets ready for execution ofan application corresponding to the contents. At the same time, therequest data extractor sends a request for contents sharing informationin response to the user's input.

In the source MS 210 receiving the request for contents sharing, a shareauthenticator performs an authentication procedure for permission orrejection of the contents sharing request of the watcher MS 220. Namely,the share authenticator determines whether to share requested contents.At this time, the authentication is performed on the basis of a sharingrange set before sharing of presence information, or the authenticationis performed depending on circumstances at the time of occurrence of arequest for contents sharing information. If the authenticationsucceeds, in step 217, the share authenticator informs a data storageunit that the authentication is permitted.

Then, in step 219, the data storage unit provides requested contentssharing information to a sharer and, in step 221, the sharer transmitsdata according to a transmission scheme corresponding to the type ofcontents. For example, if the source MS 210 is in course of capturingwith a camera, a Video Sharing (VS) scheme can be used and, if thesource MS 210 is in course of watching a picture, an Image Sharing (IS)scheme can be used and, if data is equal to a TeXT (TXT), a URL, a musicfile, etc., a file sharing scheme can be used. However, if the contentssharing information is equal to not contents themselves but a contentsacquisition path, the share authenticator informs not the data storageunit but the application that the authentication is permitted, and theapplication provides the contents acquisition path to the sharer.

Then, in the watcher MS 220 receiving the contents sharing information,in step 223, upon acquiring the contents sharing information, a sharerprovides the contents sharing information to an application ready forexecution or a data storage unit. An example of an operation of thewatcher MS 220 dependent on the contents sharing information received isshown as in Table 3 below.

TABLE 3 Presence info. of source MS Application Operation of watcher MSVisiting site ‘URL’ Web browser Visit to the same site Listening tomusic Media player Feel the same media ‘song title’ of ‘singer name’Capturing motion Camera Preview Watching picture ‘file Image viewer Viewthe same image name’ Taking memo others View memo by memo padIdentifying schedule Compare called party's schedule with my schedulethrough scheduler

In the signal flow of FIG. 2, step 221 transmits thc contents sharinginformation directly to the watcher MS 220 from the source MS 210.However, this assumes data transmission based on IMS. Unlike this, step221 can be performed through a separate server.

A construction and operation of an MS sharing presence information andcontents as described above are described below in detail with referenceto the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 3 illustrates a construction of an MS in a communication networkaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the MS includes an input unit 302, a display unit304, a storage unit 306, a communication unit 308, and a controller 310.

The input unit 302 recognizes an input generated by a user, and providesthe controller 310 with information corresponding to the input. Namely,the input unit 302 processes a user's input through a keyboard, akeypad, a touch screen, a touchpad, a mouse, a special function button,etc.

The display unit 304 displays status information generated during anoperation of the MS and numerals, characters, images, etc. resultingfrom an application program. Namely, the display unit 304 displays, as avisual picture, video data provided from the controller 310. Forinstance, the display unit 304 can be a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), anOrganic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED), etc. Particularly, the display unit304 displays presence information of a source MS. At this time, thepresence information includes application execution information andcontents indication information.

The storage unit 306 stores data such as a program code for anactivation of the MS, an application, contents, etc. For example, uponapplication execution, the storage unit 306 provides stored contentsunder control of the controller 310, and stores contents provided fromthe controller 310.

The communication unit 308 provides an interface for accessing acommunication network. If the MS is equal to a wireless node such as acellular phone, the communication unit 308 includes a Radio Frequency(RF) module and an antenna. Also, if the MS is equal to a computerconnecting to a wired Internet network, the communication unit 308includes a physical connection port and a modem. Particularly, accordingto an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the communicationunit 308 transmits presence information provided from the controller 310to a presence server, and provides the controller 310 with presenceinformation received from the presence server. Also, the communicationunit 308 transmits packets requesting contents sharing information to asource MS, and receives the contents sharing information provided fromthe source MS.

The controller 310 controls a general function of the MS. That is, thecontroller 310 processes a procedure corresponding to a user's inputrecognized by the input unit 302, provides video data to the displayunit 304, and controls operations of the storage unit 306 and thecommunication unit 308. Particularly, the controller 310 generatespresence information including application execution information andcontents indication information and controls a function for contentssharing according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In detail, if the MS operates as a source, the controller 310 extractsinformation on an application in execution and contents indicationinformation, and generates presence information including theapplication information and the contents indication information. Forexample, the presence information including the application informationand the contents indication information is shown as in Table 1 above.And, the controller 310 transmits the presence information to a presenceserver through the communication unit 308. Also, if there is a requestfor contents sharing information from a watcher MS, the controller 310performs art authentication procedure for the watcher MS. If theauthentication succeeds, the controller 310 transmits the contentssharing information to the watcher MS or a separate server for datashare through the communication unit 308. For example, the contentssharing information is shown as in Table 2 above. At this time, theauthentication is performed depending on a preset basis or depending oncircumstances at the time of requesting contents sharing information.For instance, if the watcher MS is included in a preset list of datashare permission MSs, the controller 310 transmits the contents sharinginformation to the watcher MS.

If the MS operates as a watcher, the controller 310 analyzes presenceinformation of a source MS. That is, the controller 310 identifies whichapplication is executed and which contents are used in the source MSthrough the presence information of the source MS received from apresence server. At this time, the MS analyzes the presence informationthrough a specific tag included in the presence information, or analyzesthe presence information by searching a keyword within the presenceinformation. After that, if a contents share request command by a useris generated, the controller 310 sends a request for contents sharinginformation to the source MS through the communication unit 308. At thistime, whether the contents share request command is generated isdetermined depending on user's input information provided from the inputunit 302. And, the controller 310 identifies if requested contentssharing information is received. At this time, the contents sharinginformation is received from the source MS directly or via a separateserver for data share. If the requested contents sharing information isreceived, the controller 310 executes an application corresponding tothe contents sharing information, or stores the contents sharinginformation in the storage unit 306.

FIG. 4 illustrates a procedure of providing presence information of anMS and contents in a communication network according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, in step 401, the MS identifies if applicationexecution is detected. In other words, the MS identifies an execution ornon-execution of an application by a user's manipulation.

If the execution of the application is detected, the MS, in step 403,extracts application information and contents indication information.Namely, the MS identifies which application is executed and whichcontents are used. For instance, the contents indication information canbe a URL of a visit site, a tag of a reproduced music file, a file nameof a displayed image, etc.

After extracting the application information and contents indicationinformation, in step 405, the MS generates presence informationincluding the application execution information and contents indicationinformation, and transmits the generated presence information to apresence server. Namely, the MS generates the presence informationincluding an indication indicating an application in execution andcontents used. For instance, the presence information is generated as inTable 1 above.

After that, the MS, in step 407, identifies if a share request forcontents included in the presence information occurs. In other words,the MS identifies if a request for contents sharing information on thecontents occurs. If the share request does not occur, the MS returns tostep 401.

On the other hand, if the share request occurs, the MS, in step 409,performs an authentication procedure for a watcher MS having sent theshare request for the contents. In other words, the MS determineswhether to share the contents with the watcher MS. At this time, theauthentication is performed depending on a preset basis or depending oncircumstances at the time of a share request. For example, if thewatcher MS is included in a preset list of data share permission MSs,the MS determines to provide the contents to the watcher MS.

After performing the authentication procedure, the MS, in step 411,identifies if authentication succeeds. In other words, the MS identifiesif it is determined to share the contents with the watcher MS. If theauthentication fails, the MS returns to step 401.

On the other hand, if the authentication succeeds, the MS, in step 413,transmits contents sharing information to the watcher MS. At this time,the MS transmits the contents sharing information to the watcher MSdirectly or via a separate server for data share. Here, the contentssharing information is contents themselves or path information foracquiring the contents and is shown, for example, as in Table 2 above.

FIG. 5 illustrates a procedure of acquiring presence information of anMS and contents in a communication network according to an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, in step 501, the MS receives presence informationof a source. MS from a presence server, and displays the presenceinformation. At this time, the presence information includes applicationinformation and contents indication information.

Then, the MS, in step 503, analyzes the presence information of thesource MS. Namely, the MS identifies which application is executed andwhich contents are used in the source MS through the presenceinformation of the source MS received from the presence server. At thistime, the MS analyzes the presence information through a specific tagincluded in the presence information, or analyzes the presenceinformation by searching a keyword within the presence information.

After analyzing the presence information, the MS, in step 505,identifies if a user's contents share request command is generated. Inother words, the MS identifies if a user's manipulation of commanding ashare request for contents identified through the presence informationanalysis is generated.

If the contents share request command is generated, the MS, in step 507and scuds a request for contents sharing to the source MS. In otherwords, the MS sends a request for contents sharing information on thecontents. Here, the contents sharing information is contents themselvesor path information for acquiring the contents and is shown, forexample, as in Table 2 above.

After that, the MS, in step 509, identifies if requested contentssharing information is received. Namely, the MS identifies if the sourceMS permits a share request. At this time, the contents sharinginformation is received from the source MS directly or via a separateserver for data share.

If the contents sharing information is received, the MS, in step 511,executes an application corresponding to the contents sharinginformation or stores the contents sharing information. The executedapplication is different depending on the contents and is shown, forexample, as in Table 3 above.

An exemplary embodiment of the present invention can mutually share amore detailed status of a called party by providing not only statusinformation previously input by a user but also automatically updatedoperation information of an MS through a presence service in acommunication network providing the presence service. Further, anexemplary embodiment of the present invention can provide an advancedservice enabling emotion share between users by enabling sharing ofcontents indicated through presence information.

While the invention has been shown and described with reference tocertain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be madetherein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: communicationcircuitry; and a controller configured to: receive, via thecommunication circuitry, first information regarding a user of anotherelectronic device, the first information comprising applicationinformation identifying an application executed in the other electronicdevice and user activity information describing an activity with respectto the application; control to output, for display based on the receivedfirst information, a visual indication identifying the user, theapplication information, and the user activity information describingthe activity with respect to the application; receive, via thecommunication circuitry, second information comprising user activityinformation describing another activity with respect to the application;and control to output, for display based on the received secondinformation, the user activity information describing the other activitywith respect to the application.
 2. The electronic device of claim 1,wherein user activity information describes an activity which the userhas been doing with respect to the application executed in the otherelectronic device.
 3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein useractivity information describes an activity which the user performed withrespect to the application executed in the other electronic device. 4.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the controller is configuredto: receive, via the communication circuitry, third informationcomprising application information identifying another applicationexecuted in the other electronic device and user activity informationdescribing an activity with respect to the other application; andcontrol to output, for display based on the received third information,the application information identifying the other application and theuser activity information describing the activity with respect to theother application.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein theapplication information includes a title of the executed application. 6.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the user activity informationdescribing the activity with respect to the application includesinformation describing an activity with respect to a web browser beingexecuted on the other electronic device.
 7. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the user activity information describing the activitywith respect to the application includes information describing anactivity associated with a media player executed on the other electronicdevice.
 8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the user activityinformation describing the activity with respect to the applicationindicates a video content is playing.
 9. The electronic device of claim1, wherein the user activity information describing the activity withrespect to the application includes a music title of a music content andindicates the music content is playing.
 10. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the controller is configured to transmit, via thecommunication circuitry to the server, application informationidentifying an application executed in the electronic device and useractivity information describing an activity with respect to theapplication executed in the electronic device.
 11. The electronic deviceof claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to output, to anexternal display, the visual indication identifying the user, theapplication information, and the user activity information describingthe activity with respect to the application.
 12. A device for providinginformation of a user, the device comprising: communication circuitryconfigured to receive, from another electronic device, applicationinformation identifying an application executed in the other electronicdevice and user activity information describing an activity with respectto the application; a memory configured to store the receivedapplication information and the received user activity information; anda controller configured to: transmit, to an electronic device via thecommunication circuitry, first information comprising the storedapplication information and the stored user activity information, andtransmit, to the electronic device via the communication circuitry,second information comprising user activity information describinganother activity with respect to the application executed in the otherelectronic device.
 13. The device of claim 12, wherein user activityinformation describes an activity which the user has been doing withrespect to the application executed in the other electronic device. 14.The device of claim 12, wherein user activity information describes anactivity which the user performed with respect to the applicationexecuted in the other electronic device.
 15. The device of claim 14,wherein: the communication circuit is configured to receive, from theother electronic device, application information identifying anotherapplication executed in the other electronic device and user activityinformation describing an activity with respect to the otherapplication; the memory is configured to store the received applicationinformation identifying the other application and the received useractivity information describing the activity with respect to the otherapplication; and the controller is configured to: transmit, to theelectronic device via the communication circuitry, third informationcomprising the stored application information identifying the otherapplication and the stored user activity information describing theactivity with respect to the other application.
 16. The device of claim14, wherein the received user activity information includes informationdescribing an activity with respect to a web browser being executed onthe other electronic device.
 17. The device of claim 14, wherein thereceived user activity information includes information describing anactivity associated with a media player executed on the other electronicdevice.
 18. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium havingrecorded thereon a program, which, when executed by an electronicdevice, performs a method of providing information of a user, the methodcomprising: receiving first information regarding a user of anotherelectronic device, the first information comprising applicationinformation identifying an application executed in the other electronicdevice and user activity information describing an activity with respectto the application; outputting, for display based on the received firstinformation, a visual indication identifying the user, the applicationinformation, and the user activity information describing the activitywith respect to the application; receiving second information comprisinguser activity information describing another activity with respect tothe application; and outputting, for display based on the receivedsecond information, the user activity information describing the otheractivity with respect to the application.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium of claim 18, wherein user activityinformation describes an activity which the user has been doing withrespect to the application executed in the other electronic device. 20.The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of claim 18,wherein user activity information describes an activity which the userperformed with respect to the application executed in the otherelectronic device.
 21. The non-transitory computer-readable recordingmedium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises: receivingthird information comprising application information identifying anotherapplication executed in the other electronic device and user activityinformation describing an activity with respect to the otherapplication; and outputting, for display based on the received thirdinformation, the application information identifying the otherapplication and the user activity information describing the activitywith respect to the other application.
 22. The non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium of claim 18, wherein the useractivity information describing the activity with respect to theapplication includes information describing an activity associated witha media player executed on the other electronic device.
 23. The deviceof claim 12, wherein the controller is configured to determine whetherthe electronic device is permitted to receive the first informationbased on sharing set information indicating sharing restrictions for theapplication information and the user activity information.